A POLICE OFFICER shot a 17-year-old runaway in the wrist this morning at a Hawaii high school after the teen cut one officer with a knife and punched two others, authorities said.
State Department of Education spokeswoman Donalyn Dela Cruz said the boy showed up at Roosevelt High School near downtown Honolulu, and officials there recognised him as a runaway and called police.
The boy had been a student at the public school before but wasn’t registered for classes there this semester, she said.
Honolulu Police Major Richard Robinson said officers arrived at the school and tried to take the boy into custody, but he lunged at them.
The teen attacked one of the officers with a knife, leaving him with a minor cut on his torso, Robinson said. He also hit two other officers, but neither suffered serious injuries.
Parents await the release of students after a school shooting at Roosevelt High School. Pic: AP Photo/Marco Garcia
One of the officers then fired two shots, hitting the boy once in the wrist. The teen was taken to a hospital in serious condition, EMS spokeswoman Shayne Enright said. His injuries were not life-threatening.
The incident prompted a lockdown at Roosevelt, which has an enrollment of about 1,500.
Noah Powell, a 16-year-old junior, said the shooting happened in a school counsellor's office. Powell said he was in a nearby office and heard the struggle and shots, but he didn't see the 17-year-old or know who he was.
Kealii Akiona-Soares, a junior, was in social studies class when he heard a faint shot at about 8.20am.
Then a school bell sounded and students were kept in their classrooms, the 17-year-old said. He said his class continued with a politics lesson, and everyone kept mostly calm.
Students leave school at Roosevelt High School after a school shooting on campus. Pic: AP Photo/Marco Garcia
Several parents, including Carolyn Richardson, gathered outside Roosevelt after word of the shooting spread. Some were visibly upset, and many texted or called their children.
"This is really freaking me out," Richardson told the AP.
Richardson said she learned about the shooting around 9am through a text from her son, CarDarow, a sophomore.
CarDarow texted her that he heard shots had been fired at the school, but that he was all right. Richardson then used her cellphone to video chat with her son. "I gotta hear your voice," she screamed at him.
School was let out for the day at about 10am, and a steady stream of students filed off the campus, near the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific known as Punchbowl.
Hawaii is one of 12 states that have not had a school shooting, or someone entering a campus with the intent to shoot, state Education Department officials said.
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